Five Students’ Efforts to Raise Over $150,000 and More Than 30 Tons of Food to Fight Hunger Recognized by Sodexo Foundation

June 15, 2015

Students each awarded $10,000 in scholarships and grants for fighting hunger in local communities

GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 15, 2015 - Today, Sodexo Foundation announced the five 2015 national honorees for the Stephen J. Brady Stop Hunger Scholarships, which recognize and reward students who have made a significant impact in the fight against hunger. Scholarship recipients will receive $5,000 for their education as well as a matching $5,000 grant for the hunger-related charity of their choice.

The scholarship awardees represent a wide variety of students from fifth grade through college and from all across the country. They have collectively raised over $150,000, helped secure more than 30 tons of food donations and mobilized thousands of their peers to join the fight against hunger.

“It’s encouraging to know that even as 16 million children in our country struggle with hunger, there are thousands of their peers diligently working to ensure that those less fortunate will have a next meal,” said Robert A. Stern, chair, Sodexo Foundation. “These five students remind us that we all share the responsibility of fighting hunger and each of us is capable of taking meaningful steps to ensure every child has access to nutritious food.”

The national scholarship recipients this year include:

Sophie L. Bernstein, Ninth Grade, St. Louis, Mo. Sophie is the Founder and President of Go Healthy St. Louis, a program that helps to alleviate child hunger by increasing the amount of fresh and healthy produce at food banks and educating young children on the benefits of gardening and eating healthy. Striving to make a sustainable impact in her community, in 2014 Sophie led the charge to plant and maintain six gardens at low-income preschools to introduce children to gardening and giving back to the community. Since 2012, she has donated more than 5,000 pounds of fresh vegetables and fruit, raised $9,500 and recruited 1,050 youth volunteers.

Caroline Ford, College Freshman, Bowling Green, Ky. Caroline created the Young Artist Alliance, a grassroots organization that brings together young artists to do fundraising performances to benefit the hungry. She also produced a music CD where all proceeds are donated to a local food pantry. She has raised $5,000, recruited 150 of her peers and donated 20,000 pounds of food to the American Red Cross Food Pantry.

Braeden Mannering, Fifth Grade, Bear, De. At nine-years-old, Braeden started Brae's Brown Bags, which provides bags of healthy food for the homeless and low-income populations in need. Each bag contains three healthy snacks, water and contact information for further assistance. Since 2013, Braeden has provided more than 3,000 healthy bags, raised over $16,500 and recruited 1,500 of his peers to help end hunger in Delaware. Braeden’s efforts don’t end there, he is also a spokesperson on the issue, presenting at conferences and speaking about food insecurity to people of all ages.

Kylee McCumber, Seventh Grade, Leominster, Ma. At ten-years-old, Kylee started Kylee's Kare Kits for Kidz after she found out students at her own school were facing hunger. Kylee's Kare Kits provide nearly 1,000 meals to children on a weekly basis. She has recruited 500 young volunteers, raised nearly $100,000 and packed 50,000 meals -- all to help children who did not have enough food at home on the weekends.

Isaac McFarland, Twelfth Grade, Keithville, La. Isaac’s interest in helping the homeless developed from witnessing a family member’s struggles. When his uncle lost his job and his home, he relied on family support to keep him off the streets. That experience prompted Isaac to launch Game Changers "Let's Tackle Hunger", a program that has provided more than 4,000 “tackle boxes" and weekend bags of food to children living in food insecure homes. Isaac has collected over 85,000 items, recruited 1,500 volunteers and raised $$21,000 for the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana. He also built a community garden to provide fresh vegetables to low-income neighbors, while educating his generation on the importance of eating healthy.

Sodexo Foundation will also recognize 19 Stop Hunger Regional Honorees with a $1,000 donation for their preferred hunger-relief charities. To date, Sodexo Foundation has recognized 149 Stop Hunger Regional Honorees with grants totaling $149,000 for their hunger-relief charities. In addition, the Foundation has awarded 45 national scholarship recipients with $410,000 in scholarships and matching grants for the hunger-relief charities of their choice. The Stephen J. Brady Stop Hunger Scholarship is named for Sodexo Foundation’s founder and former president, who was an unstoppable champion in the fight to end hunger.

Sodexo Foundation works to ensure that every child in the United States, especially those most at-risk, grows up with dependable access to enough nutritious food to enable them to lead a healthy, productive life. Visit Sodexo Foundation on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @StopHungerUSA.

Sodexo in North America
Sodexo, Inc., the leading Quality of Life services provider in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, delivers On-site Services in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government and Remote Site segments, as well as Benefits and Rewards Services and Personal and Home Services. Sodexo, Inc. is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md. and funds all administrative costs for the independent and charitable Sodexo Foundation -- granting more than $25 million since 1999 to end childhood hunger in America.